From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…
Today marks Day Four of the Budget Hostage Crisis in California’s State Legislature. Faced with a $42 billion deficit, leaders in the State Senate failed for three days in a row to muster the necessary two-thirds vote to pass a plan of budget trimming and massive tax increases. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat, sent members home last night but warned it might be the last time for a while. "I will not allow anyone to go home, to resume their life, to have any kind of resumption of normal business" until a deal is passed today, he warned. "Bring a toothbrush, bring whatever necessities you need to bring."
Republicans were adamant that a vote to pass the tax increases wouldn’t come from their caucus. Senator Dennis Hollingsworth said Mr. Steinberg’s threats only hardened his opposition to what he called a runaway spending machine. "You’re not going to go back to people’s pocketbooks to fuel that spending," he said.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who supports the deal despite almost unanimous opposition from his fellow Republicans, announced plans to lay off 20,000 state workers today. Should he and Democratic leaders fail to convince enough Republicans to vote for tax increases, there is even speculation that Mr. Steinberg and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass will push a package of higher revenues through the legislature and to the governor’s desk by a straight majority vote. "A simple majority vote will ultimately be declared unconstitutional by the courts, but that’s something they’ll worry about later," says Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
The battle lines in California between the two parties have rarely been clearer. While Republicans run the risk of being blamed for cutbacks in vital services, they have also energized their base by insisting on strict budget reforms aimed at finally ending a disastrous cycle of overspending followed by budget meltdowns. It’s only been six years since California’s last boom-and-bust spending crisis, which led to the recall of Democratic Governor Gray Davis and his replacement by Mr. Schwarzenegger.
— John Fund